About The Rhode Island Bottle Bill

How would a bottle bill impact Rhode Island?

A bottle bill would increase the cost of every bottle and can sold in the state, disproportionately impacting working families, seniors and low-income households. This legislation will lead to higher costs not only for consumers but to many small businesses in Rhode Island.

As in other deposit states, a bottle bill would likely lead to organized fraud schemes where bottles and cans purchased in surrounding states, in which no deposit was paid to Rhode Island stores, are redeemed in Rhode Island. At the proposed 10 cent deposit, bottles and cans would pour in from the Massachusetts border, as the deposit is only 5 cents there. These fraudulent redemptions cost states and taxpayers millions of dollars annually.